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Brewster (Brew)
Jamal is the Black medic at the firebase to which Perry and Peewee are assigned when they arrive in Vietnam; he also does secretarial work for Captain Stewart. He fills in on the squad for a short time when their numbers fall, but he is terrified and ineffective while on patrols.
Jamal Quotes in Fallen Angels
The Fallen Angels quotes below are all either spoken by Jamal or refer to Jamal. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 15 Quotes
Lobel damned near dragged Jamal into our hooch.
“Go ahead, tell him what you heard,” Lobel said to Jamal.
“Sergeant Simpson and Captain Stewart got into a fight,” Jamal said. “Captain Stewart told Sergeant Simpson that if he didn’t shut up and get out he was going to bust him down to private.”
[…]
“What they fighting about?” Johnson asked.
[…]
“He found out that Captain Stewart is volunteering Alpha Company all over the place. He asked him what he’s doing that for, and Captain Stewart said that if he didn’t want to fight, he shouldn’t have extended.”
What Jamal said went down hard. We didn’t mind doing our part because it had to be done, even though we didn’t have answers to why we were doing it.
But nobody wanted to go out and risk their lives so that Stewart could make major.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Fallen Angels LitChart as a printable PDF.
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Jamal Character Timeline in Fallen Angels
The timeline below shows where the character Jamal appears in Fallen Angels. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 7
Jamal, the camp medic, distributes the weekly malaria pills and congratulates Perry on getting three Vietcong...
(full context)
Walowick and Perry set up a chessboard as Jamal returns with the report, which clearly notes three confirmed kills. Walowick says one can never...
(full context)
...wanted to bring Mama. Perry wakes with an excruciating stomachache at 4 am. Peewee fetches Jamal, who casually informs Perry that he’s got “the shits, ” and he must just ride...
(full context)
Chapter 13
...Peewee and Perry debate having sex with Vietnamese girls before they go home. Everyone, including Jamal—whose opinion Perry trusts—says that the war will be over soon. The temporary truce for the...
(full context)
Chapter 14
Jamal fetches Perry for Captain Stewart, who wants to know if Lieutenant Gearhart messed up and...
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...Simpson, who has just eight days left in Vietnam, doesn’t want to hear Lobel’s theories. Jamal joins the squad. Brunner wants to know if Jamal is “man enough,” and Jamal replies...
(full context)
Chapter 15
One day, Lobel drags Jamal into the hooch, demanding he tell the whole squad what he just overheard. Stewart and...
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Chapter 16
Perry isn’t in pain, but he can’t move. Around him, chaos and confusion reign. Jamal checks Perry head to foot, then several hands lift him into a helicopter. The smell...
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Chapter 19
...they quickly realize he will not survive his wounds. A Charlie Company soldier screams at Jamal to “do something,” but Jamal insists soldier’s friends must “take care of” him. A moment...
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...up his hands and the troops drop to the ground. When he motions them forward, Jamal remains frozen on the ground. Peewee punches him in the face; Perry and Gearhart drag...
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Chapter 20
By the next day, Monaco warily begins to joke about his vision. Jamal, typing up a report about Brew’s death, realizes that this dreary, rainy Friday would have...
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Chapter 21
Captain Stewart reassigns Jamal to the medical unit. Without him and Dongan, the squad has just seven men. Gearhart...
(full context)
